I am suddenly thinking that it might be a nice idea to rent a house "down the Shore" for a week in August, for my daughter and granddaughter and me. I guess this idea just came in to my head because last weekend I saw a neighbor in the elevator who said she had just rented a house for a week in Normandy Beach.

So --- despite having lived in Montclair since 1970, I know next to zilch about the shore, and have never rented a house down there. Are rentals so slow this year that you can still rent a house for a week? And how would one, logically, go about this? I don't want to go too far down, as my daughter might be commuting sometimes to her job in Bernardsville. And of course it's only an idea, there may be an alternate plan for the week.

Suggestions, (useful ) opinions, anyone?

You might try asking all this on either Barista.net or Maplewood Online. It's even possible that some fellow New Jerseyan has a house they'd rent to you, or help you out in some other way.

Everybody will want to know which Jersey shore town you want, or what your southernmost limit is, plus your budget.

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Barista.net

Thanks, but reading that website occasionally is enough to make me despair of the human race. I always use it as an example of what SlowTalk could become if we didn't have the supermods we do.

FYI, my own town, Montclair, has a moderated message board, and it's a fairly decent one.

Marian,

It's been years since I've been along the Jersey shore - my father's old stomping grounds, but you might find this website useful, focusing on towns on the northern part of the shore. I just found this site, so I have no idea about its reliability, but it looks OK.

Using the map, you could focus on towns below Sandy Hook, such as Sea Bright, Deal, Long Branch (too big?), Bradley Beach, Belmar, and Sea Girt. Those are places that people I knew used to go to from north or central Jersey. You might run into Tony Soprano. Avoid Asbury Park except for sightseeing, I guess.

On problem, though, if it's still the same as it used to be, is that many of these places (except the larger ones) have limited public access to the beaches, which I always thought was most unfair.

I hope you find something nice.

Ann

Marian, I'm here now! Okay - well, of course I'm partial to LBI. I would suggest Ocean City, as a nice, clean, friendly, family resort (meaning the boardwalk is not scary and good for young child fun) but it's definitely too far down (exit 30) for your daughter to do a commute.

I've heard good things about Spring Lake, though I've never been. If you're interested in LBI though, let me know and I'll get more info for you, and can start checking ads for houses (heck, I can even try to check out a specific house - though I'm only here to Saturday and then return to get Becky off on her trip, and Chris and I on ours). Just let me know (though I have to say, LBI would be far for a daily commute too - exit 62).

Thanks, Kim!

I don't think Adrienne will be commuting every day. I've just looked at the map, and I guess no further south than Seaside Heights. Adrienne mentioned Point Pleasant Beach; as she is a native NJ person she knows the shore better than I do. I think that Karlie's dad's parents have a house in Point Pleasant (or used to).

Anyway, tomorrow is Adrienne's birthday, and we are spending the day in Long Branch.

Marian, I'd suggest actually taking a day trip during the week down to the shore and talking to some realtors. If you like, I'm up for a road trip maybe Wed next week, but then we're away in Vermont.

While you're in Long Branch look around. See if you can find the local, weekly shore paper (ours is the Sandpaper and the Beachcomber). You can get an idea of listings in there too.

All good ideas. I know that Adrienne will be talking with some of her friends.

But Wednesday sounds like a plan. I’ll talk to A about it too, as we all celebrate her birthday today. (Hey, if you want to join us for lunch in Long Branch, call me.)

Geez, I have a 35-year old daughter! And I'm only 37 myself!

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And I'm only 37 myself!

[slapping Marian's wrists] Marian, don't lie about your age. We all know you're 39!

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Hey, if you want to join us for lunch in Long Branch, call me

Thanks but I'm on kid-watch. Dad is on the way to the airport to pick up my bro and sil, and mom is off island doing some food shopping (having four kids, and three adults in the house, it's been a shock to her how much food we're going through).

I just returned from "down the shore". This was my first time on the beach in years, and it was trial by fire, but fun. While Adrienne had the surfing lesson she has been wanting for years, Karlie (10) went out on her boogie board for the first time. She has this idea that she can go anywhere, and she is a strong swimmer. However, there is a limit and I resorted to going over to the lifeguard and saying "See that kid with the blue boogie board? She's out too far and pretends she can't hear me." So he went, asking her name beforehand so he could call her. You can imagine how happy she was. Anyway, all was fine and Adrienne enjoyed her lesson. My "two girls" have both been water babies since infancy.

But by the time we had lunch, I was really too tired to do much looking at real estate, so we just drove through Deal and Asbury Park (neither of which are possible towns) and came on home.

Sounds like you are having a nice time, Kim. More later, all you shore experts.

David --- do I really look as old as 39?

Sounds like the three of you had a fun day at the beach! Karlie ... wonderful and scary to be that fearless.

I just skimmed this article about "Unexpected New Jersey" in the July issue of Travel + Leisure magazine, but I saw some references to "the shore." Maybe there's a tip or two for you about finding a place to stay, or at least things to do while you're there.

Marian, although I've never stayed there overnight, I would add my vote for Spring Lake. An absolutely lovely community with a pretty main street with shops and restaurants, sprawling mansions throughout the neighborhood, clean beaches and a great boardwalk.

I have no idea, though, how hard or easy it would be to find a place to stay. I remember seeing many B&Bs there when I visited.

Thanks, Colleen and Terry.

Funny, but I feel more secure about renting in Italy than in NJ.

Marian,

The link I provided in my post of a few days ago has about three listings for rentals in Spring Lake, as well as several listings for B&B's. Just about all of either give this e-mail address for contacts: webmaster@newjerseyspringlake.com. It might be worth a try to check it out.

Ann

Hi Marian!

We're also thinking of doing a last-minute rental in August.

You may want to look in areas from Ocean Grove straight down to the Lavallette area. I like Ocean Grove - it's a small town just south of Asbury Park. It's an old Methodist Camp with lots of Victorians and a few good restaurants, surf shop with lessons, etc. It's also a dry town - very quiet during the week. Some of the surrounding areas are not that nice, but we rented a house for 2 weeks 2 years ago and loved it. I also know a few people who own there and love it. There are also a bunch of hotels, guest houses, etc. You can go exploring to all the other towns in the area.

Areas around Chadwick Beach and Ocean Beach 1,2,3 have a lot of little bungalows to rent. It's like a throw back to the 1950's, very family oriented, but more crowded, and traffic a little heavier. I've never rented there, but am hoping to do so in August. I have friends who own houses in Mantaloking and love the area. I saw a lot of bungalows available in August. There are a bunch of little towns one right after the other (including Normandy Beach).

Also, Ocean Beach 2 and Ocean Beach 3 have associations with a clubhouse, with various activities, which could be fun for your granddaughter. I think OB3 may have slightly more activities.

Spring Lake and Sea Girt are beautiful too, but I don't think there are a lot of weekly rentals. I think Point Pleasant gets very crowded, especially on weekends, but kids love the boardwalk - you could go for the day from where you rent. Manasquan has a cute Main Street.

OurTownRentals has a lot of OG listings.

Here are some websites you can check:

http://www.oceangrovenj.com/

http://www.ourtownrentals.com/

http://oceanbeachnj.com/Default.htm

http://www.chadwickbeachnj.com/Rentals.html

PS. My dream is to buy a little beach house, one where my husband can still commute to NYC. I've been exploring these areas!

Thanks Anne, Sophia. For various reasons, I am not so eager to be in Ocean Grove. And thanks for all the insights on the other towns.

Also, thing is, I am nervous about rental websites that I know NOTHING about. Sophia ---- Have you ever rented through any of those websites?

Meanwhile, I am still fighting a nasty head cold which kept me from taking up Kim on her generous offer to go cottage hunting with me.

I'm working with a realtor from the Ocean Beach site looking at houses. They have a separate office for rentals. I think they're the main realtor for the Ocean Beach communities. As of yet, I have not rented with them, but am hoping to do so.

I rented the Ocean Grove house thru Our Town Rentals, which deals directly with owners, kind of like VRBO. We had a good experience with our rental.

www.shoresummerrentals.com is another site with listings in the area, but haven't used that one. I think if you go with a realty agency you'd be fine.

I rarely make it over to the North America board so I only just saw this post. This is honestly the first time since I sold my house at the beach that I'm sorry I don't have it. For years I begged family and friends to use the place so it didn't sit empty all week.

My uncle rents four apartments in South Seaside Park, but I like you too much to suggest you look into them.

Like Kim, I'm partial to Long Beach Island but I understand not wanting to go that far south. Staying further north I'd suggest looking at the towns in the ten-or-so mile stretch between Bay Head and Lavallette. There are lots of different kinds of rentals there, as well as several B&Bs (at least in Bay Head and Mantoloking) to choose from. It's relatively quiet (especially the northernmost part) and more diverse than Ocean Grove.

As for who to rent from, many of the shore rentals still go through real estate agents who manage the transactions - that's your safest bet. I don't know this realtor but their web site is easy to use and they seem to have a large inventory of properties in the area.